Ditzy Doo: Muffins
by Saddlesoap Opera
Summary: Ponyville's mailmare is a mystery. Why does she act the way she does? Why does she have a Unicorn foal? What does her Cutie Mark mean? And why muffins? The answers will reveal a past she didn't know she had...and a guilt she may never live down.
1. Simple Present

**DITZY DOO: MUFFINS**

**By Saddlesoap Opera**

**Appendix Two of the Pony Psychology Series**

WARNING: Contains Violence and Disturbing Scenes

* * *

><p><strong>PART ONE – SIMPLE PRESENT<strong>

"_Learn lots, muffin!"_

Ditzy Doo hugged her precious foal from behind on the street in front of Ponyville Elementary and peppered the top of her head with kisses until the little Unicorn squirmed to get free.

"_I will_, Mommy! C'mon, leggo – I'm gonna be late!"

Ditzy released her, and the blonde-maned lavender filly cantered over to join her friends on the way into the schoolhouse. Ditzy waved at her happily as she went.

Once her pride and joy disappeared from sight past the open double doors, Ditzy spread her wings and took to the air, heading back to the Post Office. She gathered up the day's post in her saddlebags and began her morning rounds.

Letter by letter, parcel by parcel, she began working her way from one end of Ponyville to the other, waving and smiling at the Ponies she passed by and apologizing to those she accidentally ran into. Most took it well. Most.

"Watch where yer goin', _Derpy Hooves!_" The chocolate-brown Pegasus shook the dust from his wings and his sand-coloured mane as he stooped to retrieve the newly-purchased dumbbell he'd dropped during the collision with Ditzy.

Ditzy winced upon hearing the mean-spirited nickname, but she said nothing. Her oldest friend – the Unicorn Colgate – had often told her that a Pony's life is too short to hold grudges, and she'd taken the advice to heart. She silently collected the letters that had spilled from her bags and resumed her rounds.

A few minutes later she happened to glance at a shop window and caught a glimpse of her faint reflection. She stopped dead in the air, folding her wings and landing heavily. She approached the window like an Earth Pony approaching the edge of a cliff.

"Oh, no…" she said under her breath as she angled her head down and toward the glass, examining her scalp in dismay. "_No, no, no!_" She twisted to check the base of her tail, and saw the same problem there. "_Noooo…!_"

She trotted in place and murmured anxiously, her uneven gaze darting from the window, to her tail, to her still-half-full mailbags and back again. She bit her lip.

"_Sowwy…_" she said to her mailbags, and took to the air.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

A few minutes later Ditzy Doo sat on a plush chair with her chin resting on the curved lip of one of the sinks in Carousel Boutique's cosmetology room. Her relief at finding the place otherwise devoid of customers was almost palpable. She sighed, and her eyes half-closed in relaxation.

The shop's elegant white Unicorn owner stood next to her, flanked by a hovering magicked dye brush and bowl of mane bleach. Her own lustrous purple locks were wound into a tight bun and protected from accidental splashes by a diamond-patterned bandana.

"As I've often said before, I do _so_ wish you'd let your natural colour grow out, dah-ling," said the Unicorn, stirring the brush in the bowl of bluish paste. "It's so _rare_ to see such a _dark_ mane around these parts."

"Uh-uh," said Ditzy, emphatically shaking her head. "Yellow."

"Yes, blonde does seem to suit you, I suppose," the Unicorn conceded, "but don't you find it a bit _plain?_ You could look so _exotic_ – like you'd stepped out of the pages of _Puledria Vogue!_"

"_Yellow,_" she repeated firmly, her voice tinged with something not unlike fear. After a moment she looked down, and added: "_…Dinky doesn't know._"

A long, uncomfortable silence passed between the two Ponies, until thoughts of the magazine the Unicorn had mentioned reminded Ditzy of something.

"Here!" she said, and pointed a hoof at the wrapped flat rectangle sticking up out of one of mailbags sitting nearby. The Unicorn magicked up the package and tore away its wrapping, revealing a glossy magazine with a lean, long-legged, dark-maned, huffy-looking orange Pegasus on the cover.

"Oh! Speak of the Pony Devil – the latest issue! _GRAT-zee!_"

"_GRATzee-EH,"_ corrected Ditzy reflexively.

"Ah – yes. Of course. My mistake." The Unicorn's features jerked in confusion. "Wait. Ditzy…_you speak Puledrian?_"

Ditzy shook her head. "Uh-uh."

"But…how did you…?"

Ditzy smiled and shrugged. "Dunno!"

The Unicorn sighed and set down the magazine on a nearby table. "Oh, Ditzy. You really are quite…_unique_," she said, and started painting the bleach into the Pegasus' blue-black roots.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

Once her mane and tail were back to their customary vivid blonde, Ditzy flew down Stirrup Street at Pony head level, making an earnest – though somewhat unsuccessful – attempt to avoid bumping into passersby, trees, fences, walls and the like while she rushed to continue her rounds.

Delivering the mail was an enjoyable profession for Ditzy. She'd been the town's mailmare for as long as she could remember – though that was only about six years – and the job's routines suited her.

She could take the same route every day so that she didn't get turned around, and everypony was always happy to get their mail. If only they'd write a little bigger and clearer…

She alighted on a bench on the side of the street, setting down her mailbags. She retrieved the offending letter from her mouth with her front hooves. She tilted her head and squinted, trying to maneuver the letter's address into the clearest part of her distorted field of focus.

A sudden shout from around a nearby corner broke her concentration:

"_Hey…! I'm WALKIN' here!_"

The voice was harsh and boisterous, with a faint hint of a big city accent. Something about the sound struck a deep and unsettling chord in Ditzy. For some reason, it reminded her of the awful free muffins that had made her sick the week before. She angled her head and ears to listen better, distractedly letting the letter slip from between her hooves.

"'_I'm sorry, I'm sorry'…why don't you just watch where yer goin', DOOFUS?_"

Ditzy shifted uncomfortably on the bench. The voice sounded mean, certainly, but that alone shouldn't have been enough to disturb her so much – she had, after all, been the direct target of a great deal of harsh words over the years. So, why did simply_ hearing_ that voice set her teeth on edge?

As if in answer, a deafening roar pierced through the ambient noise of downtown Ponyville.

Ditzy Doo's golden eyes widened; it was a Griffon's roar. Not a Manticore or a Dragon or an Ursa – a _Griffon_. She couldn't remember ever meeting a Griffon, but she was utterly certain nonetheless. The realization deepened her discomfort. She started trembling. She tried to swallow, but her throat was suddenly dry.

All at once, the afternoon breeze filled with the sounds of a filly's fearful weeping.

If the Griffon's voice had struck a chord, the pitiful whimpering broke a string. A sudden surge of pain lanced its way through Ditzy's brain.

Disjointed images and sensations exploded forth from the neglected depths of her memory, crowding out her conscious thoughts in an agonizing jumble.

She clapped her front hooves to the sides of her head, gritting her teeth. Her wings and tail thrashed spasmodically.

"…_Muffins…_" she groaned; her eyes rolled upwards, and she tumbled off the bench.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The first thing that came back to Ditzy was pain. Her head throbbed with it, and her right wing ached from folding wrong underneath her.

Ditzy's eyes flickered open to a view of the grassy verge underneath the bench. She was lying on her side partially hidden by the grass and the bench, and further obscured by the mailbags sitting where she'd left them.

With a start she realized that she had no idea how much time had passed, but judging from the sun and the shadows, it wasn't time to fetch Dinky from school yet. She sighed in relief.

She struggled her way back onto her hooves; the effort made her headache worse. Everything seemed off-balance, as if the world were tilting to and fro. She shook her head, trying to clear it of the strange and unsettling feeling. She staggered forward a few steps to the nearby street corner.

The sound of a door slamming rang out, followed by a high-pitched cry; Ditzy swayed as she turned to see the sounds' originator. She frowned at what she saw, her nose wrinkling in disgust. Her eyes slowly narrowed and veered into proper alignment.

A female Griffon was standing in front of the nearby Sugarcube Corner. Her front talons had dug furrows into the earth and her wide golden eyes were shining with tears. Noticing Ditzy's stare, she hastily sniffled and rubbed a forelimb across her eyes.

"Wassa matter – you never seen a Griffon before, _blondie?_" she sneered, covering her heartache with a layer of anger. She stalked over to Ditzy, narrowing her eyes. "Take a picture, _it'll last longer!_" She swung a talon toward Ditzy's face in a back-pawed slap.

Fast as a striking serpent, Ditzy deftly parried the talon with a front hoof and followed through with a blow of her own. Her hoof clopped against the point where the startled Griffon's beak met her downy face, and knocked the hybrid beast off her feet.

"_*Chrr-wit* sque'k irr *caw*-rowr!_" Ditzy snarled, her voice a jumble of growls and squawks.

The Griffon lay on her side frozen in mute shock for a moment and then hopped back onto all fours, glowering. "You take that back!" she growled. "My mom is a SAINT!" The Griffon surged forward with her talons extended.

Ditzy spread her wings and threw herself upward out of harm's way, only to drop down and stomp all four hooves squarely on a nerve cluster between the Griffon's broad wings. The strike made, Ditzy hopped off of the Griffon's back and landed a few feet away.

The Griffon squawked in pain and surprise as her wings convulsed and then flopped down uselessly on either side of her tawny frame.

"_Mrr-*cheep* __irr grrll *awwk-bk'kaw*!"_ taunted Ditzy, a wicked grin spreading across her face.

"_SHUT UP!"_ roared the Griffon, the anger in her tone losing ground to pain and humiliation. She locked eyes with Ditzy for a long moment; their golden gazes mirrored each other.

Realization and recognition slowly crept across the Griffon's features. She looked away. "Ehh, whatever. I don't have time for this!" she hastily huffed, and turned to slink away down the street. Her wings were still out of commission, and even walking made her wince with every step of her front paws.

As the Griffon disappeared around a corner Ditzy shook her aching head once more; her eyes returned to their usual misalignment, and her scowl vanished. "Umm…sowwy!" she called after the Griffon, smiling nervously and backing away toward her mailbags.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

A few minutes later the Griffon sat on a hill on the edge of town, gingerly flexing her aching wings.

_I shoulda seen it sooner,_ she thought to herself. _That voice…those eyes. It's her! It's _gotta_ be her. But how? She's dead. I saw her die!_

She cautiously spread her wings to full extension and gave them a few gentle flaps.

"…Doesn't matter," she said out loud. "Not once Uncle finds out, anyway…" She chuckled.

With a pump of her wings, she took to the air.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

As she did with all traumatic events, Ditzy tried to forget the meeting with the Griffon – but the disturbing exchange was etched into her memory. Day after day, her thoughts returned to it. Why did seeing the Griffon make her so _angry_? How did she know how to speak its language? And how did she know how to _fight? _

Never once in all her years in Ponyville could she remember raising a hoof in anger, but when she'd felt threatened her response had come with the swiftness of a deeply-ingrained reflex. She had been Ponyville's mailmare ever since the accident had robbed her of her memories. _But who had she been before that?_ For whatever reason, she'd never thought about it before.

Ditzy sat at her kitchen table staring down at a fresh bran muffin, lost in thought.

"_Muffins…"_ she muttered.

"…Mommy? Eat up – it's time to go!" said her foal from across the table.

Ditzy shook her head. She pushed aside her musing and gobbled up her breakfast in a couple of bites.

"Okay! C'mon!" She trotted over to the little Unicorn and stooped to let her climb onto her back.

The tiny filly let out an excited squeal as Ditzy leaped out of the open window and took to the air.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

With no mail today and Dinky Doo dropped off at a weekend Junior Magic-Users Day Camp, Ditzy decided to take a short flight through town to clear her head.

She soon came to an open square, where a performance of some sort was apparently about to begin. Ditzy flew over and hovered up at the back of the gathering crowd for a better view.

"_Come one, come all – come and witness the amazing magic of The Gr__rreat and Powerful TRRRIXIE!"_

The coach in the middle of the square blossomed open to reveal an ostentatious stage. Moments later, a deep blue Unicorn wearing a flashy magician's ensemble appeared on the stage in a puff of smoke.

Ditzy's eyes widened. She slowly sank down and landed.

With a hearty boast and a flourish, the Unicorn called forth a pyrotechnic display.

At the first flash and bang, Ditzy lunged sideways, tucking into a roll and landing with her back to the side wall of the closest shop. She counted five heartbeats, her wings tense, waiting for a break in the spell onslaught to begin a headlong charge. After a moment of bemused confusion, she came to her senses. Pain throbbed dully in her head.

"_Silly…_" she chided herself. "_S'just fireworks…_" she forced herself to chuckle, but deep down she knew she hadn't misunderstood – she hadn't understood at all. The noise had set her body in motion before she'd even realized what was happening; putting hard cover between her body and the Unicorn had felt as natural as breathing.

Getting to her hooves, Ditzy trotted away from the square with fresh concerns added to the weighty thoughts that the Griffon encounter had piled onto her.

At length Ditzy came to Ponyville's Library. She looked the hollow tree up and down and then trotted up to the front door. She wanted answers; it seemed like the perfect place to look. She knocked, but there was no answer.

Ditzy opened the door, and trotted into the Library's main atrium.

"H-hello…?" she called out. Nopony answered – the room's only occupant was a stand displaying a checklist of magic tricks, and it wasn't talking.

Ditzy shrugged and started browsing the shelves. She stopped at the _International _section and spotted a volume titled _Get Going: a Great Geographical Guide to Geography._ She picked up the book with her mouth and set it down on a table. She nosed it open, and started flipping pages.

The page for the Isle of Mythos made her pause. She looked at the illustrations of skies full of Griffons and frowned. She felt the same unexplained hostility rising once more. Snippets of Griffon language floated into her awareness, none of them pleasant. She flipped a few pages to avoid letting her anger build too much.

She stopped again when she reached the entry for Puledria. She remembered the elegant white Unicorn's magazine, but more memories followed. Words and phrases came together and danced through her mind. "_Sì...parlo Puledriano,_" she muttered, her eyes widening in shock as soon as she'd spoken. She flipped ahead several more pages.

She got to the San Caballo entry. She felt her mental lexicon broaden once again. "_¡Yo hablo Caballol t__ambién…!_" she said with growing surprise and delight. "_¡Fabuloso!"_ She flipped further through the book.

"_Сталлионград? Hет проблем!"_ she snickered at the page for Stalliongrad, waving a front hoof dismissively. The language felt like second nature.

Nearing the end of the book, she flipped to the entry for Xiao Ma. "小马太？太棒了！" she said, and broke into excited laughter.

Ditzy's smile widened until it threatened to escape the confines of her face. After six years, she had uncovered part of her past – she was a _translator!_ Well, _no wonder_ she liked handling letters! And as for knowing how to fight? Not every place was as peaceful as Equestria. A Pony on a diplomatic mission had to know how to take care of herself. _It all made sense!_

"I _am_ a clever Pony!" she whispered to the empty room, her splayed eyes shining with pride.

Ditzy clopped her front hooves together and flapped her wings for joy, hopping from one rear hoof to the other. She took to the air and flew out the Library's still-open front door, giggling happily. For the moment, her elation at recovering such a useful talent pushed aside her woes and worries with a wave of wonderment.

The rush of wind from her departure stirred up a sheaf of pages that had been wedged in the shelf next to the geography guide; the papers spilled out onto the floor. Among them was a poster depicting a blank-flanked, black-maned grey Pegasus filly with her face twisted into a vicious scowl. Beneath the picture, the largest word on the poster read:

**WANTED**

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

Gilda the Griffon soared through the skies above Ponyville, her face locked in a serious frown.

_Can it really be her? _she mused. _I mean, she's just a PONY. There's no WAY she could have lived through that fall. If I tell Uncle and it turns out I'm wrong, he'll have me plucked! But still – that voice! Those eyes! And those moves…_ She rubbed her bruised cheek with a talon.

Gilda skirted the edge of Cloudsdale's floating suburbs and headed for the weather manufacturing district. '_Course, if I'm _right_, Uncle's gonna…_ Her stern visage faltered for a moment as her conscience gnawed at her. In her mind's eye, the grey Pegasus slowly brightened into a bluer shade, with a multi-hued mane. _Why?_ begged the phantom Pegasus, her ears drooping and her maroon eyes shining with fear as a shadow fell over her…

Gilda shook her head. The imagined Pony's colours faded. _Too bad! She shoulda thought of that before she decided to be lame! They all shoulda! Stupid Ponies! Stupid, sucker-kicking, flip-flopping… _She rubbed a forelimb across her eyes – because the wind was making them water. Just the wind.

She came to a small but stately cloud-built restaurant half a sky-block from the storm factory. She landed on the doorstep, took a slow, deep breath, and walked in.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The next ten days passed in a pleasant whirlwind. Ditzy felt better than she had in years, and nothing could bring her down.

She witnessed an Ursa Minor's depredations with the same giddy half-interest with which she watched its magical defeat. Not even an ominous cover of Dragon exhaust over Ponyville could draw her thoughts away from her new memories for long. Even as she swept away the ashen clouds with her wings, she softly sang songs in a wide array of languages.

Her thoughts were so diverted by reclaiming a piece of the puzzle of her past that she forgot to deliver Ponyville's newest rain schedule requirements to Cloudsdale, which led to the need for a substantial downpour to make up for a missed shower.

She blithely went through the motions of assisting the Ponies clearing up loose branches and other potentially-dangerous items in preparation for the storm, but her preoccupation was obvious.

"Bit for your thoughts?" asked a soft, dignified voice from behind her.

Ditzy turned to see her friend Colgate. The streaked-maned blue Unicorn was magicking together a pile of sticks.

"Nuffin'," said Ditzy, poorly concealing her good cheer. "Jus' thinkin'!"

"You are _not_ 'just thinking,' Ditzy. You're practically _glowing_."

"Really…?" asked Ditzy, somewhat surprised.

Colgate raised an eyebrow. "You are not a subtle Pony," she said. "Go on, tell me – what's up?"

"_I remember stuff!"_ Ditzy said, grinning broadly.

The Unicorn's expression brightened. "That's _fantastic!_ When I pulled you out of that lake six years ago, you couldn't remember a _thing! _Something's come back to you?"

"Yeah! I'm a translator!" Ditzy beamed.

Colgate stared blankly. "…A translator."

"Yup!" Ditzy's tone was as bubbly as her flanks. "I can talk in all kinds'a languages, an' I can fight, too!" She kicked at the air with her front hooves, the jabs lightning-quick. Despite the grace of her strikes, Ditzy stumbled slightly. She righted herself and giggled.

"Do you remember anything else? Your family? Or what happened to you?"

Ditzy shook her head, undaunted by the admission.

Colgate nodded slowly. "…I don't want to burst your bubble," said Colgate gently, "…but maybe you should try to remember more about your past before you celebrate. I have a _very_ old friend here in town who I think may be able to help you…"

"Nah, iss'okay," said Ditzy, waving a hoof. "I'll get it."

"Ditzy, please. I have a bad feeling about this. I _know_ you have time – Dinky's with her friends at Berry Punch's for that 'rainy-day party.' As a favour to me, _please_ do this."

Ditzy's off-centre gaze met Colgate's, and the Pegasus recognized her_ Serious Stare_ – the particular deep, sad-yet-determined look that her Unicorn friend only wore when she was discussing matters of grave importance.

"…Okay," said Ditzy.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The dark-maned brown Earth Pony took several minutes to even acknowledge the two visitors to his cluttered workshop. As he paced to and fro, Ditzy noticed that he had the same Cutie Mark as Colgate: a golden hourglass.

He was caught up in musing to himself about the contents of a basket of fruit the school had given him as a thank-you for judging a recent science fair.

"…Cherry pits, too! _Full_ of the stuff! In the wrong hooves, a gift like this is a veritable chemical warfare project! Fitting prize for judging a science fair, I suppose." He idly picked up a pear from the basket by its stem with his teeth, and dropped it into a nearby waste paper bin. "Minus the seeds, though, I must admit those apples _are_ pretty delic– '_Colgate?'_ Hullo! How have you been?" The Earth Pony stressed Colgate's name in an odd fashion.

"Hello, Doctor. I'm well, thank you." Colgate gestured to her friend. "This is my good friend Ditzy Doo. She's been having some trouble with missing memories, and I suggested that she come and see you. Ditzy Doo…this is The Doctor."

Ditzy smiled nervously and waved a front hoof. "Hello, _Doktah_," she said, unconsciously mimicking her friend's upper crust Canterlotter accent.

"_Trouble_, eh? Made you think of me straight away, did it?" The Doctor asked Colgate with a wink and a wry smile. He turned to face Ditzy. "Pleased to meet you, miss. I'm sure I'll be able to get to the bottom of – _phwoar!_ That's a _great_ trick! Wish I could do that – I could read two things at once!" Ditzy looked away, blushing. The Doctor cleared his throat. "Sorry…they're lovely eyes, really. I mean it. Let's take a peek behind them, shall we?"

The Doctor trotted over to a nearby table and picked up an ornate metal rod in his mouth. He pointed the object at Ditzy, and its tip buzzed and glowed green. Ditzy cringed, but she felt nothing.

The Doctor set down the tool, examined it for a moment, and spoke: "Did you know that you've had your skull fractured?"

Ditzy shook her head.

"Well, it's healed now, so I wouldn't worry about it. Didn't notice anything _too_ odd inside it, either. A few scars, nothing much. I've seen worse. If you can't remember something, it may be because you don't _want_ to."

Ditzy frowned and shook her head. "Uh-uh! I _do_ wanna! I wanna _know!"_ Her wings flapped emphatically.

The Doctor's cheery expression shifted to a look surprisingly similar to Colgate's _Serious Stare_. "…All right," he said gently, "if you're certain." He pointed to the floor in front of him with a hoof. "Sit down here. Face me."

Ditzy trotted over and sat down. Her off-kilter golden eyes met The Doctor's pale blue gaze.

He sat as well, and slowly raised his front hooves to rest on the sides of Ditzy's head.

"_Try to relax,_" he said softly. "_Open your mind…think back… baaaack…that's it – let yourself go wherever your memory takes you…_"

Ditzy gasped softly; she felt her thoughts streak through her time in Ponyville in reverse, all the way back to her first clear memories, and beyond. She closed her eyes, and surrendered to the recollection.

_She was a young filly on the cusp of marehood, but she still lacked a Cutie Mark. Her short mane and tail were poker-straight and pitch-black. She was crouching next to a massive male Griffon; he looked like a mass of corded muscle lightly sprinkled with fur and feathers, and several ominous scars marked his hide. Both of them were perched on a low-hanging cloud above the majestic city of Canterlot. They were looking down at the city's expansive Post Office. On the steps of the building, a sandy-maned purple Unicorn stallion was chatting happily with a golden-maned grey Unicorn mare. The stallion was Marked with a brass shield; the mare, an open sack of envelopes._

Ditzy twitched. She felt her heart rate start to increase.

"_This one's been sticking his horn where it doesn't belong, Dezi," rumbled the Griffon. "He's interfering with Flock business_,_ trying to root out our earners in Canterlot. Guardsponies usually get the hint – even the wingless ones. But this one's a cub-scout. He's going to be made an example of." She nodded gravely._

Ditzy's head began to pound. Behind her eyelids, her eyes veered into proper alignment. They flicked to and fro in rapid saccades.

_Time whipped past in an indiscernible blur. It was night now, and she was oh-so-quietly opening the Canterlot Post Office's second floor window. She slipped inside, silent as a shadow._

At some point, Ditzy had started holding her breath. She gasped for air now, almost hyperventilating. The pain in her head worsened.

_Time skipped ahead once more. She was on the Post Office's main floor. She was short of breath, and her body ached from exertion. Her hooves were covered in dark, damp stains. She was standing over a huddled mass on the stone floor. As the memory sharpened, she saw that it was the broken remains of the Unicorn couple. The stallion was stretched protectively across the mare, but both were bloody, unmoving, and oh. So. Quiet. _

"No…" Ditzy whispered; it was less a statement than a plea. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.

_Their silence seemed to infect the room, draining it of even the slightest sound. And then, when the quiet was almost absolute…_

"No…!" Ditzy repeated through gritted teeth, her tone desperate.

…_the air filled with the sounds of a foal's fearful weeping._

"_NO!_" Ditzy lashed out with her front hooves, sending The Doctor tumbling. _"NO, NO, NO, NOOOO!"_ She spread her wings and screamed the denial over and over, her head and tail thrashing back and forth.

"_Ditzy…__!"_ Colgate took a step toward the Pegasus but Ditzy hopped back, her teary eyes wide and wild.

Ditzy wailed in anguish and fell to her knees. "_…I'm a bad Pony!_" she sobbed. Tears soaked her cheeks.

The Doctor had gotten back to his hooves. He approached Ditzy. "No – Ditzy, _no._ Please…your memory is still in pieces. You need to–"

"_NO!" _she shouted. _"Don' touch me! No more! I don' wanna!"_ Ditzy leaped to her hooves and galloped over to the door. _"I DON' WANNA!"_ She shoved it open and fled into the worsening rain.

Colgate moved to follow her, but The Doctor held up a warding hoof. He sighed. "Don't. Give her some time. She won't listen…not in the state she's in." He slowly shook his head. "The poor thing…I'm not surprised it hurts her to look back. Some things…" He turned to look out the back window, where an odd, narrow blue shed sat in the middle of the yard. "…_Some things are just too painful to relive._"

Colgate touched a front hoof to The Doctor's shoulder. "You know, it's not too late to help her…not for _us_, anyway. Not for _you_…"

The Doctor turned away from the Unicorn. "I can't. _I won't._ Not here. My help only brings more trouble in its wake. I won't put Ponies through that. One _storm_ is enough." A rumble of thunder punctuated his statement.

Colgate sagged slightly and sighed, and then trotted toward the door. "That's the funny thing about the storms here, Doctor," she said without looking back, _"they only come when they're needed."_

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The rainstorm began in earnest as Ditzy plodded aimlessly through the puddle-strewn streets. Her soaked wings hung limply at her sides. She shivered against the wet chill, but inside she just felt empty.

"…_bad Pony…'m a bad Pony…"_ she muttered over and over. The rain soaking her face concealed the steady trickle of tears down her cheeks.

She turned a corner, and saw a pair of menacing-looking Pegasus stallions peering into the front window of her Post Office home.

One, the smaller and leaner Pony, had a slicked-back black mane, a tawny hide, and four aces for a Cuite Mark. He was chewing on a toothpick. The other, far larger and bulkier than his associate, had a shaggy blue mane, a blue-grey hide, and brass horseshoes on his flanks as well as on his hooves. The pair spotted her, and turned to face her. They trotted over.

Aces whistled in amazement. "_Dezi_…it really _is_ you!" He smiled, revealing more than one gold tooth. "I almost didn't recognize ya with that mane and tail. Me and Stomper have been lookin' for you all over this town ever since we heard you was still alive – ain't that right, Stomper?"

The hefty Pegasus nodded. "_All_ over," he agreed, spreading his wings in an expansive gesture.

Ditzy made no reply. Her misaligned eyes stared hollowly at the pair.

"It's nothin' personal, Dezi – ya know that right?" continued Aces. "I always thought o' you as the little cousin I never had. But the boss ain't forgiven ya for whatcha did. Ya went too far, Dezi. He wanted you done in then, and he still does now."

"He still does," echoed Stomper, nodding again.

"It'll be easier on all of us if ya don't run," said Aces. "You've lived one Pony Helluva lot longer than most Ponies the boss points a claw at – why doncha just come along peacefully and take what's comin' to ya?" He grinned wickedly, and shook out his wings slightly, readying himself for the inevitable chase.

Ditzy heaved a slow, shivering sigh. "_…Okay,_" she said softly.

Aces stared; the toothpick fell from his slack jaws. "_…Seriously?_" he managed at length, his eyes casting about for an ambush or some other ploy.

Ditzy nodded meekly, her splayed eyes downcast. _"I'm a bad Pony,"_ she whispered.

Aces' smile returned. "Well then...why don't we take this inside? If we keep standing out in this rain, somepony's gonna catch their_ death._"

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The Doctor paced around the main room of his workshop-cottage, his face locked in a frown.

_This has nothing to do with me,_ he thought to himself. _And nopony – no _one_ – else is meddling from the outside, either. It's just the proper course of events unfolding._

A crack of thunder shook the wooden building. The Doctor turned and looked out the back window once more. The blue shed sat out in the rain, as pitiful as an abandoned puppy. The Doctor shook his head and turned away.

_I _did_ stir up those broken memories, though – who's to say what might have happened if I hadn't done that? I wouldn't be meddling, not really. More like setting things right. I could be _subtle_ – I'm sure I could! There's a first time for everything…_

The Doctor gritted his teeth and stomped a front hoof, annoyed by his shameless attempt to manipulate himself. "Is it the mane? Is that it?" he asked the empty room. "Even a few lifetimes later, am I still swayed by a bottle-blonde in distress? Is that why I'm even _considering_ putting this wonderful, _peaceful_ world at risk just to help one filly?" No answer came from the assorted trinkets and devices littering every flat surface. The Doctor sighed in surrender.

He trotted over to the far corner of the room and nudged aside an empty, vaguely dog-shaped metal shell covered in dents and burn marks. He pressed a hoof to the exposed floor, flipped over a loose board, ducked his head down into the hole, and retrieved a small metal key in his teeth.

The Doctor headed over to the back door and ventured out into the rain. He approached the blue shed, and unlocked its door with the key.

"I don't suppose _you_ would be willing to explain things to Celestia when all Pony Hell breaks loose?" he asked.

No answer came from the blue shed.

The Doctor shrugged. "Ah well…worth a try."

He slipped through the shed's open door and disappeared in the shadows of its deceptively large interior.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

Stomper didn't know much, but he knew how to kick.

The brass-shod front-hoof blow came within a hairsbreadth of fracturing Ditzy's jaw; as it was, it still sent her tumbling across the Ponyville Post Office's main room, a mist of blood escaping her lips. Pain clawed its way across her neck and jaw, but Ditzy didn't cry out. She stayed similarly silent when Stomper unleashed another few kicks, this time to her ribs and haunches.

"Aww, come _on_," said Aces from his spot perching on the Post Office's counter, "if yer gonna play along, ya could at least make some noise – keep things inn'aresting. The Boss said we gotta do you _slow_ – you wamme to get _bored, _here?"

"You want I should break her wings, Aces?" asked Stomper, hovering a hoof over Ditzy's back. "Dat always makes you laugh."

Aces waved a font hoof dismissively. "Nah – wha'did I just say? We gotta make this _last._ Save that fer later. Jus' keep on beatin' on her for a while. No – _wait…_" Aces looked out the window at the falling rain. "I got a better idea…"

A few minutes later Ditzy found herself stretched out on her back and upside down, tied to the counter's torn-off top plank with packing twine. Stomper had dragged her out the back door and slid the board up close to the downspout from the Post Office's gutters. Stray drops from the heavy flow of rainwater wet Ditzy's mane and face.

"If you wanna do any beggin' or cryin', now would be a good time," said Aces with a leering grin. His wings rose slightly. They folded again when Ditzy stayed silent. "…_Fine._ Stomper – give 'er a _drink_."

Stomper levered up the board and slid it forward. Ditzy's face plunged into the freezing torrent.

Cold, gritty rainwater flooded Ditzy's mouth and nose; she tried not to panic, but the reaction was instinctive. She thrashed as much as her bindings would allow, her head and body jerking against the twine. The fear of drowning dredged up the memory of her arrival in Ponyville – the earliest memory she could clearly recall. Images flicked dream-quick through her consciousness.

_The impact with the lake's surface was devastating; it felt like striking a wet brick wall. She sank under the water in a daze, the disorientingly-hard landing and the cold easing the pain of her injuries. Her lungs still held breath, but she grew more and more tempted to simply let it out. The cool pressure of the water all around her seemed to wash away her pain and fear. It would be so much easier to just give in. A few small bubbles escaped from between her lips. As she hit the silt-covered bottom of the lake, her blurred gaze fell upon an odd, narrow blue shed resting on the lakebed…_

The board slid back and Ditzy coughed spasmodically, gasping for breath. Aces chuckled. He nodded to the downspout, and Stomper pushed the board forward again. Ditzy mentally lunged for the memories this time, frantic to escape the terrible present.

_The shed's door opened, and a familiar dark-maned brown Earth Pony stuck his head out. For some reason, the water didn't seem to reach him or the open door. With a start, she realized that it didn't fully reach _her_, either – her head was inside of the air bubble now surrounding the shed. The siren's call of the water broke, and she hungrily gasped in a few breaths. The Earth Pony smiled slightly, and shook his head in dismay. "Now that I get a better look, that is a bad one, no doubt about it," he said, and she knew he meant the deep gash in her forehead. "You likely won't remember this little chat for a long time – in fact…I'm counting on it."_

Stomper pulled Ditzy back once again. Despite the ache in her lungs and the exhausting remnants of panic wracking her limbs, Ditzy almost objected. She'd only just remembered that she'd first met The Doctor at the bottom of a lake, and her curiosity about the rest of the encounter was intense. The present was all pain and horror, and it was such a _compelling_ memory – almost as if he were speaking to her here and now, instead of so many years ago.

Thinking as quickly as conditions would allow, Ditzy realized what she had to do.

"N-no more…!" she spluttered, summoning up every buried bit of hurt and humiliation from six years of clumsiness and confusion. "Pleeeez…_please stop!_" Her anguished tone positively dripped with helplessness and despair. One of her veering eyes met Aces' gaze.

Aces licked his lips. His wings snapped to full extension. "_…_Give 'er some more, Stomps,"he breathed. _"Make it a good one." _

Stomper obliged.

"_I know you think you've done something terrible," continued The Doctor, "but not everything is as it seems. If you're remembering this, then please…_please_…finish remembering what happened _before_ this. No matter how scared it makes you, or how much it hurts, or how much you think you deserve whatever's driving you to summon up this memory, trust me: you _must_ finish remembering." He sat down in front of her and rested his front hooves on her shoulders. His blue gaze seemed to drill right into her. _

Ditzy spasmed against her bonds; her heart was beating faster and faster. Stomper looked to Aces for direction, but the smaller Pegasus shook his head.

"_Can you hear me? Do you understand? You must. Finish. Remembering." She tried to focus on his face, but her head throbbed and her eyes felt strange – like they were pointing in different directions. Nevertheless, she struggled to answer him. "M-mussst…ff-finish…" she whispered weakly. "Good! Brilliant!" said The Doctor. He cast his gaze up toward the water's surface. "I only hope that's enough – I really must dash, I'm afraid, or things will get…complicated." He trotted back inside the blue shed with the briefest backward glance, and then shut the door. The shed warbled and glowed from its roof, and then it slowly vanished. The air pocket collapsed in its wake, leaving her once again struggling to hold her breath and watching a string of seven large, silvery air bubbles float lazily toward the surface. Riddled with pain and barely conscious though she was, the bubbles were the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen. She felt a tingling warmth on her once-blank flanks. A moment later, a pair of blue hooves wrapped around her as somepony started pulling her upward. "Musss'…fin'shhh…" she muttered, releasing more bubbles as she neared the surface. "Muhh'…ff'ns…"_

"_MUFFINS!_" she screamed around a mouthful of water as the latest round of torture finally finished.

Aces let out a slow whistle. "Woops! She's off her cloud. Give 'er a minute – s'no fun if she ain't all there."

Ditzy coughed a wet, throaty cough as she fought stay conscious. She knew her respite would be terribly short; if she was going to do as The Doctor asked, she would have to do it _now_. Forcing her mind to clear as much as she could, she did her best to reach inward for the same state The Doctor had brought her to in his workshop. Fear and guilt chewed at her heart but she pushed on, determined to reclaim her past, no matter what it entailed...

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**


	2. Past Imperfect

**PART ****TWO – PAST IMPERFECT**

* * *

><p><strong>SIX YEARS AGO<strong>

Bright Eyes swept a lock of straight black mane out of her eyes and stood up straight as the Director trotted into his richly-appointed office; she'd been waiting in front of his desk for the past half-hour, but she was far too excited to be annoyed. She'd graduated from the Academy yesterday, and it was time to find out where she'd be assigned.

The older rust-coloured Unicorn stallion trotted past her and sat down at his desk. He calmly magicked around some scrolls and parchments on the lacquered wood surface before clearing his throat and speaking:

"Let me be blunt, Miss Eyes: nopony – no Pegasus, no Earth Pony, not even any Unicorn – has ever finished their training before at such an early age. You've created something of a…_sensation._"

Bright Eyes forced back the blush threatening to colour her cheeks and nodded seriously. "I don't know about that, sir," she said. "I just want to be the best I can be in Her Majesty's service."

The Director smirked. "Well, you're off to a fine start." He magicked up a lengthy scroll and perused its contents. "Fluent in seven languages, exemplary grades in tactics and procedure, top of your class in both grounded and aerial combat…and you broke the time record on the obstacle course while nursing a sprained fetlock."

"It was only a _minor_ sprain, sir," she insisted, letting just a _little bit_ of pride colour her voice.

"Nevertheless, your records suggest that you'd make an _excellent_ addition to any operation. There's just one thing…"

Bright Eyes swallowed; her excitement shriveled. She'd dreaded this possibility. "…My Cutie Mark," she said softly.

"Or lack thereof, yes," agreed the Director. "Most of our trainees have their Marks before they even apply – it's a testament to your potential that you were admitted before you got yours. But it's highly unusual for an active agent to lack an appropriate Cutie Mark. Unheard of, even. The right Cutie Mark is a sign of…_reliability_."

"With all due respect, _sir_," Bright Eyes said, her voice under rigid control, "have I ever shown _any_ sign of letting any of my trainers down?"

The Director looked into her sharp golden eyes for a long, silent moment. "…No. Which is why I've decided to recommend that you be assigned to Special Operations."

Bright Eyes stared. "R-really…?"

The Director nodded. "There's a mission in the works for which I believe you are uniquely qualified – blank flank and all. You'll report to Canterlot Intelligence Airborne Division HQ first thing tomorrow morning for your orientation – if you're interested, that is." He smiled.

"Absolutely, sir!" she replied, barely containing her elation. "Thank you, sir!"

Once she had excused herself and demurely trotted back out into the hallway, Bright Eyes let out a hooping cheer of triumph. She clopped her front hooves together and flapped her wings for joy, hopping from one rear hoof to the other.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The next day, Bright Eyes stood in the cloud-built briefing room of CIA's temple-like headquarters. Her designated trainer had just explained the nature of her assignment.

"_Undercover work?"_ All at once, Bright Eyes realized why the Director had given her this assignment.

"That's right," the trainer continued. She was a lean, scarred mint green Pegasus mare with a cropped emerald mane and tail. Her Cutie Mark was a stiletto resting on top of a domino mask. "Organized crime has been all but wiped out in Canterlot, but the skies are a different matter. Weather racketeering, rainbow smuggling, even Pony trafficking – the clouds hide a multitude of sins, and they threaten to rain down onto the streets. We need Ponies on the inside."

Bright Eyes nodded, her eyes narrow. "And that's where I come in."

"Yes. Currently, we have our eyes on a particularly vicious Griffon crime boss in Cloudsdale by the name of Giovanni."

"_Gio the Claw…"_ whispered Bright Eyes.

"Correct. Nopony's ever been able to infiltrate his organization, but you may be able to change all of that. Your talent and your lack of a Mark will match up well with the cover identity we've been assembling." The trainer pushed a small stack of papers across the low table next to her.

Bright Eyes examined the papers. "_Desiderata 'Dezi' Cavallino…_" she muttered, trying on the false name for size. "A born member of_ La Mandria Nostra_, fresh in from Puledria…" She slid aside the dossier, revealing travel papers, a rap sheet, and even wanted posters bearing her sneering likeness. She raised an eyebrow. "How did this all get assembled so quickly?"

"The Unicorn division. Horns aren't as functional as wings, but they're great at solving logistical problems."

"Of course. When do I get started?"

"As soon as you've memorized the dossier. The longer we wait, the less secure your identity will become. We want you in, made, and out with evidence before The Claw knows what hit him."

Bright Eyes saluted firmly. "Yes ma'am! I won't let you down!"

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

"_Vaffanculo, POIANA!"_

Bright Eyes pivoted in place and smashed a front hoof across the jaw of the Pegasus who'd just nipped at her hindquarters; the sizeable stallion stared in cross-eyed confusion for a moment before collapsing in a dazed heap.

Another member of the flock of Pegasi sitting around the small but stately cloud-built restaurant smirked, giggled, and then broke into peals of laughter. The rest soon joined in.

"I guess that's _one_ way to teach Big Wing how to treat a filly!" said the first Pegasus to laugh. "Dezi…you're awright!" The crowd murmured various approving comments.

Bright Eyes smiled a self-satisfied smile. _She was in._

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The next day, Bright Eyes was seated at a low table in the back of the restaurant. It was evening, and the dark sky outside dimmed the translucent white walls.

The towering half-avian form of Gio the Claw sat opposite her with his back to the wall. He looked down at her with eyes the colour of molten gold – the same shade as hers.

"_Buon appetito_, Dezi" he rumbled, gesturing with a claw at the _agnolotti_ piled on a ceramic platter in the middle of the table. A smile spread across his sharp beak.

After only the slightest pause she brushed a straight lock of black mane off of her face and pinched one of the delicate, doughy bundles off the plate with her lips.

With the first bite, she realized that she was eating Puledrian _Griffon_ cuisine. _Agnolotti di Lombrico,_ if her memory of her multicultural studies served her right.

She started chewing the earthworm-filled pasta and forced herself to smile back, crushing down her revulsion to the pit of her stomach.

_This is a test_, she told herself. _Gotta be strong. Griffons respect strength. Don't let him see you sweat…_

She swallowed the mouthful, suppressing a shudder as it slid down her throat. Her host chuckled, apparently impressed, and speared up a morsel on a claw.

While the unnatural food slowly made Bright Eyes' innards clench and twist, Gio offered her a muscular talon. "You're a tough one, and the word on the wind is that you're not afraid to get your…_hooves_…dirty. There's a place for you in my Flock, if you'll take it."

Bright Eyes' delight made her aching stomach lurch; it took a massive effort to resist throwing up right then and there on one of the deadliest creatures on feathered wings.

"I accept," she said through gritted teeth, holding forth a front hoof and letting his talon close around it.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

It was two weeks later, and Bright Eyes was crouching next to Giovanni, perched on a low-hanging cloud above Canterlot's majestic rooftops.

She had endeared herself to the crime boss and his Flock more and more over the past fortnight, laughing, gambling and drinking with the underlings and accompanying the higher-ups on their less unsavoury errands.

And now she was next to The Claw himself. They were looking down at the city's expansive Post Office.

On the steps of the building, a sandy-maned purple Unicorn stallion was chatting happily with a golden-maned grey Unicorn mare. The stallion was Marked with a brass shield, and the mare with an open sack of envelopes. Effortlessly, Bright Eyes' training unraveled the subtle and unsubtle cues of their body language; it was obvious the two Unicorns were very much in love.

"This one's been sticking his horn where it doesn't belong, Dezi," Gio growled. "He's interfering with Flock business, trying to root out our earners in Canterlot. Guardsponies usually get the hint – even the wingless ones. But this one's a cub-scout. He's going to be_ made an example of._"

Bright Eyes nodded gravely, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the mare's smiling face. The Unicorn's happiness reminded her of everything she'd resigned herself to doing without in her pursuit of a career in Her Majesty's service: a safe home, a stallion and foals of her own, and – in all likelihood – the luxury of someday dying of old age.

Bright Eyes turned away. She knew that maintaining her cover was vital, and she knew that she might have to pay a terrible price if she broke it, but the thought of letting innocent Ponies pay that price instead made her feel ill. She couldn't let the hit go through. If she returned to CIA and delivered her evidence, the Unicorns would be dead before the ink on the arrest warrant even dried. If she stayed undercover, they'd be just as dead. She had only one choice:

She had to find a way to warn them.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

Late that night, once the streets and skies of Canterlot were all but deserted, Bright Eyes glided through the cool air as gracefully as a hunting hawk. Around her hips hung tactical saddlebags – a narrow black belt strung with several miniature pouches filled with useful equipment.

She came to the Canterlot Post Office's second story balcony, and oh-so-quietly used a mouth-pick from her belt to unlock the window. She slipped inside, silent as a shadow.

Bright Eyes unconsciously stroked a wing against the unsigned letter tucked into her belt. The word on the wind was that the hit would go down tomorrow night; if she could leave the letter tonight, the Unicorns would be long gone by then.

Shadows painted the hallway black; Bright Eyes moved forward with aching slowness, straining her ears for any sign of whether the Unicorns were awake.

If she hadn't been focused so intently on her hearing, she might have missed the tiny creak of a pastern-strung wire garrote pulling taut behind her.

Bright Eyes let her front legs buckle and lashed out with a lightning-swift double-back-leg kick at an upward angle. The blow struck her would-be assassin in the throat, causing him to choke and gurgle while flapping his wings. The wire between his front hooves made him stumble.

Bright Eyes turned to face the Pegasus and wrapped her front hooves around his head. Acting on ingrained combat training she pumped her wings and rotated laterally with a savage wrench; she heard and felt a wet snap from the stallion's neck.

The Pegasus collapsed on the wooden floor, his head twisted at an unnatural angle.

Bright Eyes started shaking as she looked down at the body; she had sparred and trained for countless hours, but she had never fought for her life before. Never _taken_ a life before. The stark reality of the mission she'd so readily accepted crashed over her like a tide of ice water. She'd just killed a Pony, and she might have to do it again. Her stomach lurched.

But, before her conscience could drive her nausea any further, the fact of the slain stallion's presence drove a vital thought into the forefront of her mind:

_Something's wrong – the hitponies are here _tonight!_ And there could be more…_

No longer trying for stealth, Bright Eyes galloped to the office's only bedroom and kicked open the door. There was nopony inside. She turned on her hooves, spread her wings and flew down the stairs – before colliding with another Pegasus hitpony flying up to meet her.

The two tumbled down onto the landing in a mass of flailing hooves and flapping wings.

"You messed up!" Bright Eyes growled as she struggled to get the filly into a hold. "They aren't here!"

The filly chuckled through gritted teeth as she fought back. "…_Wrong,_" she whispered, and gave a wicked grin.

Bright Eyes hazarded a glance down the stairs; she saw a still, silent huddled mass in the middle of the main floor. _"NO!"_ Fury seared away Bright Eyes' crisis of conscience. Swift and powerful as a rushing river she bent, leaned, hooked and jerked, and the filly's left hind leg dislocated. A shriek of agony shattered the hitpony's sadistic smile.

Bright Eyes cut off the shriek with an enraged cry of her own and a fierce front-hoof strike to the assassin's face. And another. And another. She kept kicking and kicking, screaming and screaming, until her breath came in ragged gasps, her legs burned and her hooves felt wet.

She stood up and slowly stumbled down the stairs, leaving the filly's remains on the landing. She was short of breath, and her whole body ached. Damp, dark spatter reached from her front hooves halfway up her legs. She left a trail of red hoofprints behind her. Her hooves slipped on the smooth stone floor at the bottom of the stairs, forcing her to sit down heavily. When she held up her blood-soaked front hooves and looked at them her nausea came back with a vengeance; she lurched forward and vomited.

Once she had recovered somewhat, Bright Eyes shakily stood and approached the shadowy mass on the stone floor like an Earth Pony approaching the edge of a cliff. She silently begged to be wrong, but as she drew near the awful truth was undeniable.

It was the broken remains of the Unicorn couple. The stallion was stretched protectively across the filly, but both were bloody, unmoving, and oh. So. Quiet.

She was too late.

Bright Eyes gritted her teeth, fighting back tears. _Damn you, Gio,_ she silently cursed. _Damn me._

The silence in the room was all but total, but then all at once, the air filled with the sounds of a foal's fearful weeping.

Bright Eyes gasped. "No…!" She cantered after the sound. It seemed to echo from every wall.

She came at last to the rooms in the back of the Post Office, where a storage area had recently been converted into a nursery. A cradle in the centre of the room faintly shone with magic; it had been enchanted to amplify the cries of the newborn Unicorn foal inside.

Bright Eyes slowly trotted up to the cradle. Guilt stabbed at her as she looked down at the crying infant.

"_W-well aren't you a dinky little thing?"_ she whispered, a smile spreading across her mouth even as her lower lip quivered.

The upset foal was tiny – her lavender form was barely longer than of one of Bright Eyes' flight feathers – and her silky mane was a pale straw blonde. Her eyes, shrouded through they were by tears and half-closed lids, were the same vivid golden colour as Bright Eyes' – the shade that had inspired her parents in naming her. Thoughts of family twisted the blade of guilt in her heart and summoned up needles of sadness to join it.

"I…I'm s-sorry," she said, feeling the stinging tears in her eyes finally escaping, "b-but your mommy and daddy…th-they…they aren't…" She choked up, briefly unable to continue. She swallowed and forced herself to keep talking, making her broken voice as soothing as she could.

"..They aren't going t-to be there for you anymore." She started gently rocking the cradle with a front hoof. "S-some very bad Ponies took them away from you. And they'll try to hurt you if they find you."

The foal slowly began to calm down. She shifted under her blanket and gurgled.

"But I'm not going to let that happen. I lost my parents when I was little, too, and it n-never stopped hurting. I couldn't save your parents, but I _promise_ I'll keep you safe – even if I have to raise you as my own." Bright Eyes wrapped the blanket around the nearly-sleeping foal in a bundle, and gripped it with her teeth. She gingerly trotted back up the stairs, past the hitponies' bodies and down the hallway, and smoothly took wing into the night.

_First thing's first, though, _she thought to herself. _I'm going to take that monster down._

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The roar of the night wind in Bright Eyes' ears did nothing to silence the cacophony in her head. Every trainer's voice and every finely-honed instinct was screaming at her to report in, deliver her evidence, and release the foal to foster care or extended family.

But this wasn't like the Academy's lessons, where following procedure solved every problem. Even in her short stint as a member of his Flock, she had learned that Gio the Claw had his talons in a lot of pies; he was unlikely to see the inside of a dungeon, even if a memory projection spell showed him ordering a hit right to her face. And the reach of the Griffon's minions extended farther still. The foal would never survive in the system or with family. If she wanted her to live and Gio to pay, she knew she would have to make it happen herself.

Ahead, the bucolic tableau of Ponyville spread out on the rolling hills below. _Maybe…_ Bright Eyes thought. _Maybe I'm still blank for a reason. Maybe this is what I need. A small town…a quiet town. Nothing special, nothing dangerous. If I make it through this, we could disappear there. Start over. I could be a librarian, or a translator…or a mailmare._ The painful thought fractured Bright Eyes' fantasy. _Stay focused, filly,_ she ordered herself. _You're not there yet._

A short distance from the far edge of Ponyville, the furthest outskirts of Cloudsdale's aerial suburbs hung silently in the still night air. Bright Eyes banked and slowly spiraled downward until she came to a small copse of trees near the well-travelled road back to Ponyville. She set down the sleeping foal's bundle at the base of the largest tree, in plain sight of the road.

"I know I promised," she whispered, "but just in case, somepony is sure to find you here if I…if I don't come back. Just sit tight, okay Dinky? If things work out, I'll be back before you even wake up."

With one last long look at the sleeping infant, Bright Eyes spread her wings and took off toward Cloudsdale.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

"But_ Unnn-cle…! _ I don't _like_ fish!" The young Griffon pouted, her talons folded across her ruffed chest. The array of artfully-arranged fillets on the plate in front of her was untouched.

Giovanni let out a tiny growl. Despite its minimal volume, the sound echoed off of the restaurant's cloud-walls. "Your father – _my brother_ – asked me to look after you while he's away in the old country, and I'm a Griffon of my word. Fish is good for you. You're a growing Griffon, Gilda – you need your vitamins. Don't you want to grow up big and tough like your Uncle Gio?"

"Yeah…" muttered Gilda, looking away sullenly.

"And don't you want to finally show all those Pegasi who's the fastest Junior Speedster before your last year is over?" Giovanni continued.

"_Yeeaahhh…_" Gilda whined. "But there's this one–"

Giovanni pounded a talon on the table. "_*Awrk*-rowr!_ No buts! _Eat up!_"

The steel in Giovanni's tone made it clear he would brook no refusal; Gilda started gulping down the fillets.

The Griffons' meal passed in peace and quiet for a few minutes…until a dazed Pegasus stallion crashed through the cloud-wall separating the private room from the restaurant at large.

Giovanni stood up, his wings spreading in surprise. His niece's jaw dropped.

A moment later the double doors to the main room swung inward and Bright Eyes strode firmly into the private room. As the doors swung shut behind her, the doorway afforded a brief glimpse of a room littered with beaten and bruised Pegasi.

"_Gio…_" Bright Eyes snarled.

Giovanni silently cursed the sound-baffling properties of cloud-walls. He craned his neck, releasing an ominous crack. "Dezi…" he rumbled. "You seem upset."

"You knew, didn't you?" Bright Eyes said. "You sent them early because you _knew_ I'd try to stop them."

The massive Griffon chuckled. "You're young, Dezi. And the honour code of _La Mandria Nostra_ is famous, even this far from Puledria. I'd hoped you were above such an…_outdated_…notion. It would appear I was wrong."

"_Honour?"_ Bright Eyes shouted. "You think that I tried to save them because of the _Briglia?_ You destroyed an entire family because a guardspony was _annoying _you! You're a sick Buzzard, and I'm going to take you down."

Giovanni scoffed. "And then what? You think you can take over my Flock so easily?"

"Your Flock can go buck themselves," said Bright Eyes, her golden eyes narrowing. "_I just want you dead._"

Gilda spread her wings, swooped in front of her uncle and charged Bright Eyes. "You'll have to go through me, first!" she yelled.

Bright Eyes deftly dodged the young Griffon's reckless charge and clopped a rear hoof across her face. "_*Chrr-wit* sque'k irr *caw*-rowr!_" she sneered, smoothly switching to the guttural Griffon language. Gilda tumbled into a table and upended it, landing in a daze.

"_Grr-*keek*!_" Giovanni raced over to his fallen niece and gently stroked a talon across her face. He turned to face the grey Pegasus, rage burning in his eyes. With a hawk-like cry, he lunged for Bright Eyes.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

It took every ounce of Bright Eyes' focus to keep Gio's talons from splitting her open and his beak from crushing her bones.

She had learned how to deal with larger opponents at the Academy – how to exploit leverage and angles to use their weight against them – but The Claw was easily twice as heavy as the largest stallion she'd sparred with; every time she fought against his mass it felt like her legs were going to pull out of their sockets.

The fight took them into the restaurant proper, out the front doors, onto the cloudy front lot, and into the open air. Bright Eyes pounded on the Griffon with her hooves, angling their edges forward for minimum surface area, but her strikes barely put a dent in the beast's hide. She was faster than he was, but she couldn't get in, strike and pull back without leaving herself open to a swipe of those lethal talons.

After a few minutes they parted, landing on an empty stretch of cloud on the outskirts of Cloudsdale.

"You're a quick one, Dezi," Giovanni panted, "but it's only a matter of time until I _taste your heart._"

"Over my dead body," Bright Eyes said, her sarcasm shining through the ragged fatigue in her voice.

The two clashed once more, their movements a blur of flapping wings, striking hooves, and slashing talons. Bright Eyes managed to catch Giovanni off balance, and crashed a hoof across his beak; the blow left a hairline crack in its wake. Pain and anger lent Giovanni extra speed, however, and the Griffon managed to grab the Pegasus' leg as she drew it back.

Giovanni swung Bright Eyes by that leg in a wide circle, and smashed her down onto the cloud. The impact momentarily dazed her, and before she could react Giovanni had closed his talons around her throat.

"I could bite your head off _right now_, little Pegasus," he hissed, "but you've made me mad enough to want to make you _suffer_. Here's a little trick you Ponies might not know…it's called _strangling_. I'll do it nice and slow so you can pay attention…" Giovanni tightened his grip, his scaly talons slipping over one another around Bright Eyes' thin neck.

Bright Eyes' golden eyes bulged; black curtains danced around the edges of her vision. She knew she only had a few moments of useful consciousness left. Her hooves scrabbled against the Griffon's talons, unable to find purchase.

"_Awww…_tough time to not have any digits, hmm?" Giovanni smiled, and squeezed harder. "What are those stupid hooves _good for_, anyway?"

"…_this,_" Bright Eyes whispered soundlessly, and thrust her rear hooves between Giovanni's hind legs. The Griffon squawked in pain and shock, his head lowering and his grip on Bright Eyes' throat slackening.

She took the opportunity and swung her head upward, driving her forehead into the bridge of Giovanni's fractured beak. The Griffon winced from the impact, staggering back on wobbling legs.

Bright Eyes followed, scrambling to her hooves and hopping to rest her front legs on Giovanni's shoulders._ "This is for all the Ponies you've hurt!"_ she shouted, and unleashed another head-butt onto the top of the Griffon's beak. The fracture widened into a noticeable crack.

"_This is for being a bad influence on your niece!"_ She pounded her forehead into the Griffon again.

"_And this…_" She punctuated every phrase with another headbutt. "_Is for leaving! A foal! With no PARENTS!"_ Giovanni's damaged beak finally shattered under the assault.

The Griffon hurled Bright Eyes off of him with a back-paw slap. She landed on her back a few feet away. Giovanni writhed and howled an endless stream of distorted obscenities in his native tongue, his talons clamped over the bloodied remnants of his broken face. The cloud-stuff around him was speckled crimson.

Bright Eyes rolled onto her side. She knew she ought to press her advantage – put the foul beast out of his misery while she had the chance – but her limbs wouldn't respond. She felt as if her mind was a hundred miles from her bruised body.

"_UNCLE!"_

The cry had come from above; the young Griffon flew down and landed next to her stricken relative, her eyes wide with horror. A moment later she turned to face Bright Eyes, her face a mask of vengeful rage…but then she froze. She stared at the Pegasus in horrified silence.

_W-wha-? Why…why isn't she… _Bright Eyes felt hot wetness spill down her nose. She looked up, her eyes crossing, and gasped softly at what she saw:

The last head-butt had driven a sizable shard of beak into her forehead.

She shakily sat, and reached up with her front hooves. They felt numb. Clumsy. With no small effort, she got a grip on the shard and eased it out of the gash in her face. She let it drop to the cloud. It seemed to fall in slow motion.

_Ss'a bad w-wound,_ she mentally slurred. _Might be b-brain da-amage… Gotta get to a d-doctor…_ She stood and staggered drunkenly to one side, her wings flapping in an opposing rhythm. _G-gotta…uhh…_

Bright Eyes' golden eyes veered in opposite directions, and she tumbled off the edge of the cloud. She vaguely saw the smooth blue surface of a lake rushing up to meet her as she fell.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The next few years passed by in a streaking blur, one prominent event bleeding into another:

_A blue Unicorn was helping her clear the water from her lungs, and asking for her name. In her addled state she __reflexively tried to give her cover identity, without really knowing what she was saying: "Uhhh…D-dezi'duhhh…" The Unicorn smiled. "Hello, Ditzy Doo – I'm Colgate!" While the Unicorn was leading her down the road to Ponyville, Ditzy jerked to the side and staggered over to a copse of trees, where a precious bundle still sat undisturbed. "Dinky…" she whispered, and nuzzled the tiny foal's cheek with her own. The motion left a faint smear of blood on the foal's blanket._

_She was shivering with fever in a soft bed, and Colgate was feeding her soup with a magicked spoon. Dinky slept next to her, her tiny hooves wrapped around a foal bottle. "She's adorable," said Colgate. "My friend Berry Punch has a foal the same age." Ditzy smiled weakly. Her injuries were skillfully bound, but her eyes still wouldn't focus right. "So...are you from Cloudsdale?" Colgate continued. Ditzy frowned and muttered "…I dunno…"_

_Ditzy was speaking with an elderly stallion in front of the Ponyville Post Office. A fresh scar marked her forehead, and Dinky was sleeping in a basket between her wings. The old Pegasus shuffled off his saddlebags. "Great timing!" he cackled, and shakily took to the air. "I was gonna retire tomorrow, anyway! San Caballo, here I come!"_

_She was sitting in a plush chair with her chin resting on the curved lip of one of the sinks in Carousel Boutique's cosmetology room. "Yellow," she said to the shop's elegant young Unicorn proprietor, and pointed a hoof at her blue-black mane. The Unicorn sighed in dismay. "For the record, I want you to know that I am only going through with this crime against fabulosity because you're my very first customer."_

_She was trying to make her rounds in good time, but her wings still wouldn't move like she wanted them to and her eyes made it hard to fly straight. She bumped into nearly every animate and inanimate surface in Ponyville as the years passed by, and she soon forgot what few shards of a less-clumsy past remained. "Sowwy," she'd say, a front hoof rubbing the back of her blonde-maned neck as the stares of annoyed townsponies bored into her, "I'm not a clever Pony."_

_She was waving excitedly to Dinky Doo as the little Unicorn came bounding out of the schoolhouse at the end of her first day. "MOMMY!" Dinky squealed in delight as her eyes fell on Ditzy. The young filly leaped into her mother's waiting hug. "Love you, muffin…" Ditzy whispered, feeling the same oddly bittersweet warmth she always felt when she held her precious foal._

"_I love you too, Mommy…"_

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**


	3. Future Progressive

**PART THREE – FUTURE ****PROGRESSIVE**

* * *

><p>"<em>MOMMY!"<em>

Bright Eyes' eyes snapped open, their gaze as straight and keen as a hunting hawk's. She looked in the direction the cry had come from.

Stomper was trotting back out into the rain from the interior of the Post Office. Dinky was hanging by her tail from his broad mouth. Her little hooves were galloping in the air in a vain attempt to get free.

"Y'hh wurr right, Ace'z," said Stomper around a mouthful of tail. "Thrr WZZ s'mpwny th'rr."

"Thought so." Aces smiled. "So what's all this, Dezi? You got a _Unicorn _foal? How'd that happen? Where's the father? Awww…did some Screwhead ruffle yer feathers and then take off?" Aces batted at Dinky with a front hoof, making the tiny Unicorn spin. She squealed in fear.

Bright Eyes tensed against her bindings, her every muscle straining. The layers of packing twine holding her down creaked and groaned, digging into her hide. _"Don't…you…TOUCH HER!"_ The twine snapped and Bright Eyes surged back onto her hooves.

"Whoa – easy there, Dezi!" said Aces hastily, his expression silently begging Stomper to intervene.

Bright Eyes surged forward as fast as a lightning bolt and smashed both front hooves into the end of Stomper's nose. He dropped Dinky and staggered back, groaning.

Dinky Doo stared up in disbelief as her mother twirled and landed gracefully facing Aces.

"_DINKY! GO INSIDE!"_ she barked. Thunder rumbled from the stormy sky. The young filly obeyed, galloping through the open back door.

Aces shifted into a fighting stance. "Guess ya changed yer mind about playin' along, huh Dezi?" he sneered.

"_That's not my name,"_ Bright Eyes snarled, and tackled the stallion.

The rhythm and flow of hoof-to-hoof combat that Bright Eyes had learned so well came back to her like an old friend; she quickly got the upper hoof over Aces' dirty but predictable fighting style.

She managed slide around behind the stallion, slip a front hoof under his wing, and lever it over his back. He teetered along with the motion, falling on his side. She pressed her hoof down on Aces' wings, pinning them both. She ground down with her hoof and Aces yelped in pain, digging at the muddy grass with his hooves.

Stomper had recovered and was drawing close, but Bright Eyes shot him a warning glare that emphasized the hold she had on his associate. Stomper stayed back.

She turned back to her helpless foe. "You like seeing wings get broken, Aces?" Bright Eyes hissed in his ear. "How'd you like a nice, _close_ look?" She shifted again, putting her weight on the stallion's wing joint.

"*_Nngh!*_ P-please, Dezi…I told ya – it was just business!"

"_Business? _You foal of a mule." Bright Eyes stomped on Aces' wings; the long, hollow bones creaked, but stayed unbroken. Aces cried out.

A Pony of action over thought, Stomper pounced at Bright Eyes while she was momentarily distracted. The two slid into a mud puddle, kicking and wrestling.

With the memory of fighting a full-grown Griffon still fresh in her mind, Bright Eyes found dealing with a Pony of Stomper's size almost restful. She flexed and shifted and slid, keeping him off balance, and unleashed darting jabs on every weak spot she could think of. His namesake kicks were slow as falling trees in comparison.

Bright Eyes slipped to the side and thrust a rear hoof against the base of Stomper's thick skull; the stallion pitched forward into the mud, down for the count. She stood in triumph for a brief moment – letting the rain cool her aching muscles and rinse the mud from her grey hide – before Aces plunged a letter opener into her left deltoid.

Bright Eyes screamed in pain and fell onto her knees.

"S'always gotta be the hard way witchoo, huh?" Aces panted, rain spitting off his lips. His bruised wings were half-raised. "Well, you think the water was bad? Just you _wait_, Buzzard. I'm gonna do things to ya there ain't _names_ for…and I'm gonna make that little foal o'yours _watch!_" He ducked his head into the box he'd retrieved from inside during Bright Eyes' fight with Stomper and pulled out a second letter opener.

Bright Eyes scowled. "I was willing to kill for 'that little foal of mine' the _instant_ I laid eyes on her," said Bright Eyes. "What do you think I'd do for her _now?_" She gripped the opener sticking in her shoulder and wrenched it free; the wooden handle between her teeth muffled her cry of pain. She stood, favouring her unhurt front leg, and assumed a combat stance.

The two Pegasi circled one another in a slowly widening spiral, each daring the other to make the first move. They stopped and locked eyes once they'd put a good ten paces between themselves. Both hoofed at the ground and spread their wings. As a flash of lightning brightened the rain-dimmed yard, they charged.

They streaked past one another in a heartbeat, skidding to a halt on the muddy ground.

Aces turned first, wheeling around to face his quarry. His right side was streaked with crimson from the long slash along his throat, the flow too fast for the rain to wash away. He tried to speak, but no sounds escaped his lips. He collapsed.

Bright Eyes' right cheek was marked with a thin cut weeping red down her jaw. She dropped the bloody tool in the mud and limped back toward the Post Office.

"_Dinky!"_ she called out as she stepped inside. _"Where are you?"_ After a moment the young filly slipped out from under a pile of unsorted letters.

"_M-mommy…"_ the foal whimpered. Her lavender cheeks were streaked with tears.

Bright Eyes sighed in relief. "Oh, thank Celestia." She pulled the foal into a hug and then sat her down in front of her. She kept her front hooves on the Unicorn's shoulders. "Dinky…why are you home? Why aren't you with your friends at Berry Punch's?"

Dinky sniffled. "Miss P-Punch's roof started leaking, so she brought us all home."

Bright Eyes sighed. "All right…I want you to listen to me very carefully, Dinky. Okay?"

"Y-you're hurt," said Dinky, her voice shaking.

Bright Eyes gently jerked Dinky with her hooves. "_Please,_ Dinky. Listen to me."

Dinky swallowed and nodded, her face twisted with anxiety.

"Good. Now…I want you to go up to your room, and shut the windows and door tight. And I want you to hide under your bed and not make a sound. And if anypony but me or Colgate tries to get you out from under there…I want you to zap them as hard as you can. _In the head._"

Dinky's teary eyes widened. "B-but Miss Cheerilee says it's _bad_ to zap Ponies…_really _bad! She says–"

"_I DON'T CARE!"_ Bright Eyes shouted, louder than she'd planned to. Dinky cringed. Bright Eyes held her close again, tighter than she meant to. "…I'm sorry. I know zapping Ponies is wrong, but there are some _very_ bad Ponies around here right now, and they want to hurt us. I'm going to make them go away, but until I do you need to be brave, okay? Can you do that for me?" She put Dinky back down.

Dinky was shaking all over now, but she silently nodded.

"Okay. Now, get upstairs. I'll be back as soon as I can."

The little Unicorn trotted up the stairs and sealed up her room. She pulled her favourite blanket off of her bed and took it with her as she scrambled underneath it. She wrapped the stained, frayed fabric around herself and huddled in the dark, listening to the thunder and the rain.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

Bright Eyes stalked out into the back yard and approached the mud puddle where Stomper was only just beginning to stir. She retrieved some of the twine she'd broken and bound all four of his hooves together. The job done, she shook him with a hoof.

"_Huh…?"_ He blearily opened his mud-caked eyes.

Bright Eyes loomed over him. "Stomper…I want you to flap back to The Claw, and give him a message for me. Tell him it's time to end this. Tell him that either he comes to the fields south of Ponyville and faces me himself, _tonight,_ or I keep taking down mooks like you and the late mister Aces over there _until he runs out._ It's his call."

"He'll kill ya, ya know," Stomper said, but his tone was far from certain. His gaze kept veering past Bright Eyes and settling on Aces' body.

"Go. _Now._"

Stomper struggled his way into the air and clumsily took off for Cloudsdale, his hooves still tied beneath him.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

Bright Eyes trod down the street with as heavy a gait as her wounded leg would allow, her sharp eyes full of purpose and her rain-soaked mane hanging straight and heavy down the side of her face.

She came up to Berry Punch's house and pounded a hoof on the front door.

The magenta Earth Pony opened the door, and then gaped in shock at the sight of the bloodied Pegasus before her.

"_Hello, Berry."_ Bright Eyes locked eyes with Berry Punch; the weight of her golden gaze seemed to push the Earth Pony back. Bright Eyes followed her inside.

The house was modest but well-kept, apart from the scattered pots and pans collecting drips falling from the ceiling.

"You put my foal in harm's way just now, Berry. I know you didn't mean to, but you _owe me_ anyway." Bright Eyes' tone was low and level – rigidly controlled – with none of Ditzy Doo's lilt or foalish mispronunciation. The sound made Berry Punch shudder.

"R-really…?" Berry Punch chuckled nervously. "I'm s-sorry, Ditzy Doo. How can I make it up to you?"

"I need a splash of your _special reserve_ on these cuts and a swig of it in my belly. And some first aid. _Now._"

Berry Punch only hesitated for an instant before cantering off to fetch gauze, adhesive bandages and a clay jug marked _XXXX_.

The liquor stung fiercely on Bright Eyes' wounds and went down her throat like flaming ice. She stood as still as a statue while Berry Punch bandaged her, letting the drink spread warmth through her body and feeling the knots in her muscles ease just _slightly._

With her ministrations complete, Berry Punch backed away from the grey Pegasus, her movements betraying more than a little fear.

"Wh…what _happened_ to you?" asked Berry Punch softly.

"Mailmare business," answered Bright Eyes. "Nothing that concerns you…but I wouldn't open my door to any unfamiliar Pegasi for a while, if I were you. Thanks for the help." She trotted to the door and left without another word.

Berry Punch stood for a long, silent moment in the empty living room, and then shakily poured herself a belt of the liquor. She gulped it down in one shuddering swallow before trotting up the stairs to check on her foal.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

Colgate magicked open her door and immediately leaped forward to hug the Pony before her.

"_Ditzy!_ Thank _Celestia!_ After you ran off I thought…I worried you'd…_oh!_ You're hurt!"

Bright Eyes pushed her friend back, breaking the hug. "It's nothing. Now…I don't have much time. I need you to promise me that if anything happens to me you'll take care of Dinky. She's back at the Post Office."

Worry creased Colgate's features. "_Ditzy…_what–"

Bright Eyes pressed her front hooves to Colgate's shoulders and stared her down. "_Promise me,_ Colgate."

Colgate sniffled back tears. "I promise."

Bright Eyes softly sighed. "…Thank you. I tried to run from my past. Hide it from everypony – even myself. But that ends tonight. _I know_ _who I am_, Colgate. If I see you again, I'll tell you all about me. But for now, if I don't make it, just tell Dinky that I…" Bright Eyes paused, pushing the words through the lump forming in her throat. "…tell her that I died fighting to keep her safe."

Colgate choked back a sob. "Ditzy, _please_…if you're in trouble, I can help. _The Doctor_ can help. We could–"

"NO!" Again, the word came out louder than Bright Eyes expected. "No. I already owe you and The Doctor a debt I can never repay. And nopony else is going to pay the price for my actions. Never again. I have to do this alone._ I have to._"

Colgate's Serious Stare reflected in the Pegasus' golden eyes. The Unicorn slowly nodded.

"_Thank you, Colgate," _Bright Eyes whispered, _"for everything."_ And then she took off into the stormy sky.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The Apple family's massive son paced worriedly around the kitchen in Sweet Apple Acres' farmhouse, his broad hooves clopping out a steady cadence on the wooden floor. His sister was long overdue to return from helping the town prepare for the storm.

When a knock sounded at the kitchen door he crossed the room in a heartbeat.

"AJ…?" He pushed open the door, but found an entirely different blonde Pony standing out in the rain.

It was the town's addled mailmare – _Ditzy? Derpy?_ – but she looked different. _Very_ different.

Her frazzled mane was now rain-slicked and straight, and her googly golden eyes were now keen and focused. Her grey hide was marked with several fresh bandages. All in all, the effect was profoundly flattering – she looked as tough as a rodeo Pony and as dangerous as a bird of prey. Momentarily forgetting himself, he simply stared at her in silence.

"_I __want you to nail me,"_ she said.

The ever-present stem between the red Earth Pony's lips dropped to the floor.

"_Wh…wha…"_

"You do farrier work on the side, right? Well I need to get shod – fast."

The Earth Pony cleared his throat. "…Oh. Right. O'course. I think I got a nice thin brass set that would suit a Pegasus like yerself just fi–"

The Pegasus held up a front hoof. "_No._ I want steel. The thickest, _toughest_ steel shoes you've got – like the ones you wear at harvest time."

The Earth Pony raised an eyebrow. "What's a nice filly like yerself need apple-buckin' shoes for?"

The mailmare frowned. "You've got a reputation for being a Pony of few words._ Surely_ you'll understand if I want to keep my reasons to myself?"

The Earth Pony shrugged and trotted past the Pegasus and out into the rain. "Fair enough. Follow me."

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

The studded steel shoes made Bright Eyes' hooves feel enormous; they hung down like ballast sacks as she flew across the plains south of Ponyville, and sank into the mud as she landed in an open meadow.

Her golden eyes darted back and forth, scanning the stormy skies for any sign of her foe. Minutes passed by with agonizing slowness, but finally she picked out the dark shadow of the Griffon's massive form on the grey backdrop of the cloud-cover.

Bright Eyes focused on her breathing, willing herself to stay calm and ready. Thunder rumbled from the sky as the Griffon drew closer. Her innate weather-sense picked up the charge in the air. _Perfect_, she thought.

Giovanni flew down in a wide spiral, alighting perhaps twenty paces from Bright Eyes. She got her first look at him in six years; time had not been kind.

His hide was marked with even more scars than she remembered, and he was missing the occasional flight feather. His sunken eyes burned with barely-contained fury. Most prominent, however, was his beak.

The shattered upper surface was now held together with metal staples, and a shaped piece of dull steel took the place of the portion that couldn't be saved. Combined with the scars on his body, it lent the Griffon a patchwork appearance, like some nightmarish rag-doll.

"Long time, no see," said Bright Eyes. "You look good."

Giovanni narrowed his eyes. "Dezi." He shifted slightly, widening his stance. The seams in his beak whistled as he spoke, lending his voice an incongruous lisp. "My nie'shh told me you were dead. And then she told me you were shh'till alive._ She wa'shh right the fir'shht time._"

Bright Eyes smiled. "Before we do this, there's something you should know."

"Oh…?" Giovanni began slowly stalking toward the Pegasus.

"My name isn't Desiderata. It's Bright Eyes…_and I'm CIA._"

Giovanni paused. His eyes widened. "_You…_"

"That's right. You let a Royal agent into your Flock. And if you hadn't been such a sick, twisted _monster_, I might have done things by the book and let your bloodsucking lawyers get you off."

The Griffon growled. Bright Eyes stood her ground, and goaded him further.

"…But instead, things got _a lot_ more personal. You had an innocent family murdered on a whim…_and I broke your bucking face._" She put every ounce of sneering mockery she could muster into that last jab, hoping to push the Griffon into doing something rash. It worked.

Giovanni's deafening roar echoed even over the white noise of the rainstorm. As he sprinted toward Bright Eyes, his talons flexing and his tail lashing, a bolt of lightning streaked down in the distance and split the tallest tree in Ponyville.

Bright Eyes parried his downward slash with the edges of her shoes and then hopped backward. Giovanni pressed after her, snarling with each swing of his hooked talons and each snap of his mutilated beak. She responded to every strike with a steel-shod kick.

His blows were wild and brutal, lacking the feral precision Bright Eyes remembered. But he was still just as large as he was the last time they'd fought, and shod or not, she'd spent six years letting her skills go to seed. Bright Eyes knew she couldn't hold out long against his assault. _Please, Celestia…_ she silently begged. _Just let me make it long enough…_ She hazarded a glance skyward.

The overcast sky showed no sign of lessening its downpour, but more importantly, a charge was building in the clouds overhead. Bright Eyes could feel it in her bones. _It's coming…just…about…_

_NOW!_

She dropped, slid and rolled, and then spread her wings. With one flap she leaped into the air and flipped on top of the Griffon. Her hind legs rested on his plated beak and the crested crown of his head. She reared, stretching out her metal-clad hooves to the stormy sky with a mighty shout. The sky reached and shouted back.

Bright Eyes' world turned white as the lightning struck. She vaguely felt the impact with the ground, and sensed the painful heat in her hooves, the rattling pace of her pulse, the cold mud soaking her wings and the fierce ringing in her ears, but those concerns seemed so far away.

Bit by bit the white before her eyes faded to black, and she knew no more.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

Colgate galloped into Ponyville's southern fields, her horn gleaming with a divination spell. Dinky Doo sat on her back, gripping the older Pony's streaked mane between her jaws and huddling tight against the chill of the rain.

_You might have wanted to handle things alone, Ditzy,_ Colgate thought to herself as she squinted against the rain, _but there's something you need to learn about my kind: __we have a serious tendency to meddle when our friends are in danger._

The pair soon came to the meadow where the lightning had struck; a grisly sight awaited them.

The body of a massive Griffon lay near the centre of the field, speckled with faintly glowing embers. Here and there along the mass, faint wisps of smoke curled up between the raindrops.

Not far from the grim remains, a grey Pegasus lay on her back in the mud, silent and still.

"_Oh, no…"_ Colgate whispered.

"_MOMMY!"_ Dinky leaped off of Colgate's back and galloped over. She pressed her front hooves to her mother's chest and shook her. "Mommy! Wake up!" She nuzzled against the Pegasus' cheek. "_Please, _wake up! _You gotta wake up!_"

Colgate trotted up behind the little Unicorn. _"Dinky…"_ Colgate reached out a front hoof.

"_NO!"_ shouted the foal. "She's gonna be okay!" Her voice cracked. "She _s-said_ she'd come b-back! She said she'd make the bad P-Ponies go awa-ay!" Dinky stomped her tiny hooves on her mother's ribcage. "You w-wake up, Mommy! You wake up _right now!_" The foal's nub of a horn glittered, releasing spark-sized motes of magic. For a brief instant, the faint image of a caduceus inside a bubble flickered into being on Dinky's flank, and then vanished.

The Pegasus coughed.

Dinky stared down in wide-eyed shock as her mother stirred beneath her. It wasn't until she felt a weak-limbed hug close around her that she reacted.

"…_M-Mommy…?"_ Dinky whispered through her tears, as though speaking too loudly might wake her from this dream-come-true.

The Pegasus pulled back slightly, and opened her eyes. They stared glassily at the air on either side of the little Unicorn's head. _"I wub you, Muffin!"_ she slurred, and leaned back in to hug Dinky.

Dinky giggled joyfully. "I love you too, Mommy!"

Colgate took a gentle step forward. "Ditzy…?"

"Hi, Colgate!" Ditzy released her foal and shakily stood up. She swayed, and flapped her wings to correct her off-kilter balance.

"Ditzy…" Colgate repeated. "Are you…are you _all right?_"

Ditzy nodded enthusiastically. The motion made her stumble somewhat. "Yup! _Lever getter!_"

Colgate frowned. "…Beg pardon?"

Ditzy smiled broadly. "Lever getter! I wheel shine!" She trotted in place for a moment, her steel shoes adding heft to each step. "Ooo…rut my proves keel levy!"

The blue Unicorn sagged. "Ditzy…you told me you remembered who you were. Do you?"

Ditzy pondered the question for a moment before answering. "…Yup! My same is Ditzy Doo! 'Mm a mailmare! I de-quiver the whale!"

"Yay!" said Dinky, hugging her mother's front leg.

Colgate sighed. "_Oh well…_"

The blue Unicorn lagged behind as the trio slowly trotted down the road back to Ponyville, not wanting her mourning over what might have been to intrude on the mother and foal's happiness.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

Gilda the Griffon perched on the clouds above the meadow, peering down at her Uncle's remains and the Ponies' discovery of the clumsy, confused Pegasus.

Next to her, a lean purple Pegasus stallion with a crossed leg and baseball bat marking his flank drew close.

"The Claw didn't have no cubs," he said hesitantly, "and yer father's back in Mythos. And Aces was The Claw's right-hoof Pony. If any…any_one_'s gonna get revenge, it's…it oughta be-"

Gilda cut him off. "This is over."

"Huh?"

The Griffon wrapped a scaly talon around the stallion's throat and jerked him close, his forehead resting against her own. "You got a hearing problem, dweeb? This is over. There ain't gonna _be_ any revenge. That Pegasus is spending the rest of her life a few feathers short of a wing and my Uncle is dead. This trash is _done with_. Ponyville's off limits from now on. It's got nothin' we want. _You got that?_"

The Pegasus nodded as much as Gilda's grip would allow. She released him.

"_Nothin' we want…"_ she repeated softly, and turned her gaze to a classically-designed cloud-house floating on the Ponyville side of the outskirts of Cloudsdale. She sighed.

•**·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

**EPILOGUE**

* * *

><p>"There we are – absolutely <em>fabulous!<em>" the elegant white Unicorn beamed.

Dinky Doo giggled, prancing to and fro in front of one of Carousel Boutique's many mirrors and admiring her fancy new party dress.

The Unicorn turned to Ditzy. "Now…If there's nothing else you require, shall we settle up?"

Ditzy Doo nodded, removed her saddlebags and rummaged around in them with her hooves. Her golden eyes veered wider as she concentrated. At length, she produced a paper bag, and set in on a counter.

"Sweep the range!" she said warmly, putting the bags back on and escorting Dinky out of the shop.

"Umm..thank you! Come again!" the Unicorn called after them.

Ditzy and Dinky trotted through the streets of Ponyville until they came to a long, mansion-like house. They headed around the side of the building, and approached the doors to a storm cellar. Ditzy opened them, Dinky trotted down into the dark, and Ditzy followed.

At the bottom of the stairs they trotted into an unfurnished cellar, empty save for one feature:

An odd, narrow blue shed.

The shed's door opened, and a dark-maned brown Earth Pony stepped out. He was wearing a tuxedo, and a fine dress cut for a full-grown Pegasus was slung over his back.

"Ah, there you are," he said. "Are you two ready for your visit to the first-ever Grand Galloping Gala?"

Ditzy's splayed eyes slowly shifted, focusing as sharply as a hunting hawk's. She smiled, and said:

"_Allons-y."_

**NEXT ****APPENDIX:  
>(the great and powerful) TRIXIE: TREASURE<strong>


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